Stijn Celis

Stijn Celis was born in Turnhout in northern Belgium and spent part of his childhood in the Congo. He completed his dance training at the Stedelijk Instituut voor Ballet in Antwerp, before becoming a member of the Koninklijk Ballet van Vlaanderen in 1983. In 1986, he moved to the Zurich Ballet under the direction of Uwe Scholz. In the 1987/1988 season, he danced in the ballet of the Bern City Theatre before returning to the Zurich Ballet. Between 1990 and 1992, he was a member of Contemporary Dance Zurich. In 1992, he went to the ballet of the Grand Théâtre in Geneva, which was then directed by Gradimir Pankov. He produced his first choreography for this company in 1993. After ending his active dancing career, he studied stage design at the Hogeschool voor Dramatische Kunst in Antwerp and has been working since then primarily as a freelance choreographer and stage designer. From 2004 to 2007, he was also Ballet Director at the Bern City Theatre. Since the 2014/2015 season, he has held the same post at the Saarland State Theatre. His many choreographic works in recent years include »Noces« (2002), »Schwanensee« and »Gefährliche Liebschaften« (both 2006), »Le Sacre du printemps« and »Your Passion is Pure Joy to Me« (both 2009) along with »Romeo und Julia« (2013).